After re-installing both Mac Os X discs again, I have a little problem here....

[Volkswagen 87]

I received the gray screen of death a couple of days ago, and after deliberately trying everything to try to surpass the frozen screen, I had no choice but to re-install the two Mac Os X discs that came with the laptop computer. Little did I know that I would be losing everything that I had in the hard drive and it makes me regret not ever setting up a Time Machine

I decided to install Data Rescue 3 and send the recovered files over to an external hard drive, but after 2 hours passed and it was still on the same low percentage, there was no signs of progression so I gave up on it. Same can be said about Boomerang and StellarPhoenix

Here is my question. Will the technicians over at Apple be able to assist me with this problem if I payed them a visit? Will they be able to fully recover my old hard drive? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[MacDawg]

When you installed your 2 discs on your HDD you overwrote what was currently on the drive. There is probably very little that could be recovered at this point, if anything at all.

 

[Volkswagen 87]

When you installed your 2 discs on your HDD you overwrote what was currently on the drive. There is probably very little that could be recovered at this point, if anything at all.

In other words, it would be completely pointless to continue relying on data recovery software to solve this problem? Re-installing the system was my last resort after everything else had failed, so it was probably inevitable. Talk about having a major unfortunate case here...

Either way, thanks for giving it to me straight.

 

[MacDawg]

In my opinion, data recovery is not going to be possible in your case now that you have reinstalled your system software discs. You have overwritten your old data with new data.

If you had removed the HDD, it is possible and even likely you would have been able to recover most if not all of your data

I know it is of no comfort now, but the cost of data storage (backup) is always cheaper than the cost of data recovery

 

[G4DP]

MacDawg is spot on. VW next time, if it happens again, try starting up from Install Disc 1.

This should allow you to access everything and back it up.

 

[Volkswagen 87]

Guess it's going be a while before I manage to recuperate what I once had. I figured the worst case scenario would be losing everything you had, but I didn't want to believe in such thing.

Either way, I'll see if I can store everything on an external hard drive once everything gets going.

Thanks for all the replies, by the way

 

[old-wiz]

storing everything on an external drive isn't necessarily the best idea - you still have only one copy. It's far better to backup to an external drive, then you have two copies of stuff.